White Fragility
white fragility
—– flies banners
———- above football stadiums
————— it does not know why it is wrong
——————– still some of the fans
————————- know the tune and sing along
white fragility
—– says all lives matter
———- the understanding lost
—————that often,
——————– black lives have not
white fragility
—– demands not to take down statues
———- it will make the past whither
—————in that case
——————– they need to drag them out of the rivers
white fragility
—– pretends the colonial past
———- did not exist
————— that slave ships never actually sailed
——————– that the empire was only ever good
————————- that the colonial past never failed
white fragility
—– sits down to read the daily mail
———- hoping our government
————— will wear tall top hats and long tails
white fragility
—– has politicised the poppy
———- people wear upon their chest
————— it confuses history
——————– with something much more circumspect
white fragility
—– it does not read truthful books
———- and it is pasty white
————— it is stoked by ignorance
——————– and colour biased sight
white fragility
—– confuses white history
———- with false patriotism
————— it makes no inroads into acceptance
——————– and it treats education as criticism
white fragility
—– is stuck in a stinking trench
———- it refuses to learn or even listen
————— it is always on the defence
——————– white fragility
————————- stained as it is on our national conscience
James Garratt – Saturday 27th June 2020
More poems at
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/
More about this blog, The Boy Behind the Glasses, here
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/2020/01/08/the-boy-behind-the-glasses-an-introduction/
More poems from 2020 here
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/category/poems-and-writing-2020/
White Fragility – Written Saturday 27th June 2020 (Aged 45)
